Visit to Pirate's Cove

A friend who lives near San Luis Obispo took me to Pirate's Cove this weekend. I highly recommend it. She warned me that the hike down would be difficult, and except for the very last few rocky and steep yards, it really wasn't. Compared to scampering down the goat trail to Black's Beach or the increasingly rugged trail to Reddington Pass here in my town, it was a highway. There is only one section that is "officially" nude, but as we walked there, I spotted a topless woman and a nude man relaxing in the non-nude section. The nude area was really nice: maybe 160 yards, some rocks then relatively smoothe sand the rest of the way. The one thing that was kind of a turn-off was the fishermen who had their poles in the ground in the non-nude section. For the most part, the lines were so high that we walk under with no problem, but a few were low and hard to see. It seemed pretty inconsiderate. The nude section had quite a crowd without being crowded. One end had a volleyball net set up and folks were playing. The water was cold, so only the heartyiest would go for a swim. My friend and I got our ankles wet, but damn it was cold. It is October, after all. There is a community of regulars there that are friendly. A dog wandered the beach and people would play frisbee with it. That dog was having the time of his life, but what struck me was I couldn't for a while tell who his owner was. One person would play for a while, then another one would take up frisbee duties. These people all knew each other and trusted one another like friends. My friend knew a little about the community there, and had played volleyball with them before. On our way out, we encountered a friend of hers who was part of the "scene" there. The other thing that struck me was how many women there were. I've been to a lot of these sorts of places and you spot maybe one or two women brought by their husbands or boyfriends. I get why. A woman naked in a public place is often the target of creepy guys who don't get that they aren't there to be gawked at or hit on. Clearly, something is right with the community there that makes it comfortable for women to hang out. We were surprised at how long we spent there. Time seemed to be unimportant. It was only when we realized how low the sun was that we thought it good to leave. A beautiful, relaxing time. The company helped, of course. Do I want to go again? Yes, yes I do.